Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE) 2025: summary of changes
CASPAR briefing
The Department for Education (DfE) has published an information only version of the updates to the statutory safeguarding and child protection guidance for schools in England, Keeping children safe in education (KCSIE). The final version will be published in September 2025.1 This version will replace previous editions of the guidance.
The guidance sets out what schools and colleges in England must do to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and young people under the age of 18.
Our briefing sets out changes to the guidance.
Updates for KCSIE 2025
These include:
- the DfE's Working together to improve school attendance is now statutory guidance
- changes to the list of content risks under online safety, adding in disinformation, misinformation and conspiracy theories
- more information on the DfE guidance on generative artificial intelligence (AI)
- additional information on, and clarity around, alternative provision guidance
- clarity on Virtual School Heads and their non-statutory responsibilities around children in kinship care.
References
Department for Education (DfE) (2025) Keeping children safe in education 2025: statutory guidance for schools and colleges (PDF). London: Department for Education.Download the briefing (PDF)
2024 updates made to KCSIE
These include:
- amending the definition of ‘safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children’ in line with Working together to safeguard children 20232
- additional information around when children may require early help, in accordance with the guidance in Working together
- a recommendation for school staff, governors and trustees to use the DfE Data Protection guidance for schools3 to understand data protection
- clarification that schools continue to be responsible for the safeguarding of pupils they place with an alternative provision provider.
2023 updates made to KCSIE
These include:
- clarification around the roles and responsibilities of education staff in relation to filtering and monitoring
- clarification that being absent, as well as missing, from education can be warning sign of a range of safeguarding concerns, including sexual abuse, sexual exploitation or child criminal exploitation
- additional information on online pre-recruitment checks for shortlisted candidates
- information on responding to allegations related to organisations or individuals using school premises.
2022 updates made to KCSIE
These include:
- incorporating the DfE’s advice on Sexual violence and sexual harassment between children in schools and colleges4
- setting out the safeguarding implications for schools of human rights and equality legislation
- providing more information on managing low level concerns
- reinforcing the importance of talking to parents about children’s access to online sites when away from school.
CASPAR briefings
Our CASPAR briefings help people working or volunteering with children and young people understand changes to safeguarding and child protection policy and guidance. They also summarise key research and reports from independent bodies such as Ofsted and the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel.
> See the full list of briefings
Training for schools
All our safeguarding and child protection elearning courses for schools are up-to-date with statutory guidance across all four nations.
